June 10 babies have arrived. Now we are all sleep deprived!

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Welcome to 'the other side' ladies. Long may we all continue to post!

ARRIVALS
27/04 (due 23/06) - SunshineDay - Faye - 3lbs 2oz
16/05 (due 02/06) - Meggymegmegs - James (Jimmy) David, 7lb 1oz
19/05 (due 01/06) - whenwillisleepagain - Alice Emily, 8lb 7oz
21/05 (due 21/06) - Gizmo - Hester Rose - 6lbs
23/05 (due 9/06) - greensnail, Alice Elizabeth, 7lb 2oz
24/05 (due 8/06) - Saucepanman, Gabriel, 8lb 4oz
24/05 (due 31/05) - minimoonumber2, Sebastian Robin
26/05 (due 24/06) - GibberingGinger James Alexander, 5lb 13oz, & Douglas John, 5lb 15oz
28/05 (due 30/05) - GoodName, Fergus, 8lb
28/05 (due 31/05) - mampam, Tilly May, 9lb 11oz
28/05 (due 4/06) - jo807bump - Hannah May, 5lb 7.5oz
04/06 (due 07/06) - perkster - Sidney James Perkins Berner, 7lb 11oz
05/06 (due 31/05) - dinosaurinmybelly - Zoe Leila - 6lb 9oz
07/06 (due 02/06 ) - AlwaysHopeful - George, 7lb 13oz
07/06 (due 07/06) - MrsC09 - Rufus Jack
08/06 (due 01/06) - PogueMahone - Magnus Gabriel, 8lb 14.5oz
08/06 (due 11/06) - woofie - Laurence Elliot (Laurie) - 7lb 11oz
08/06 (due 21/06) - sunworshipper - Romola Ann Bettina, 5lb 15oz
09/06 (due 08/06) - LittleRobbo - Summer Dawn
09/06 (due 09/06) - Boobz - Constance Ella Reed,
11/06 (due 02/06) - Justbeme - 'Nobody' (boy) - 8lb 9oz
12/06 (due 02/06) - roundabout1 - Lauren - 8lb 14oz
13/06 (due 18/06) - Virgo1979 - nameless boy! 7lb 9oz
14/06 (due 30/06) - monthlymayhem - Hayden, 7lb
14/06 (due 08/06) - MrsAlwaysRight - Alice Rose, 9lb 7oz
14/06 (due 15/06) - Millymollymoo - boy
15/06 (due 31/05) - RnB - Artemis, 7lb 9oz
15/06 (due 29/06) - playftseforme - Rory 6lb 4oz, and Fergus 6lb 8oz
16/06 (due 17/06) - Chestnut100 - Daisy Belle 6lb 14oz
17/06 (due 01/06) - Madamfreckle - Emma 6lb 6oz
17/06 (due 30/06) - MonkeyMargot - Atticus Fox 7lb 8oz and Rafferty Bear 7lb 14oz
17/06 )due 04/06) - Suzy1975 - Samuel 7lb 14oz
18/06 (due 23/06) - earlyonemorning - Edgar William 7lb 8oz
18/06 (due 13/06) - sobloodystupid - Stella 8lb 8oz
19/06 (due 22/06) - Gaelicsheep - Robin 6lb 14oz
22/06 (due 14/06) - Fillybuster - Mia Rae 9lb 3oz
24/06 (due 16/06) - Nizzynoodles - Samuel James 10lb 10.5oz
24/06 (due 17/06) - summerhols - Lilly
25/06 (due 17/06) - Barbeasty - Ruth Damaris Rose, 9lb
26/06 (due 16/06) - JoKettle - James Lennox, 8lb 7oz
26/06 (due 29/06) - MrsDmamee - Elyssa, 8lb 5oz
28/06 (due 26/06) - imkeepingmum - girl, 7lb 11oz
28/06 (due 12/06) - Georgee - Anna Rose, 7lb 15.5oz
28/06 (due 12/06) - Elena67 - boy, 9lb 5oz
29/06 (due 17/06) - bluesnowfalcon - Corey, 8lb 11.75oz
29/06 (due 18/06) - theperfectbaguette - Clementine Jemima, 6lb
29/06 (due 26/06) - RubyReins - Luke Douglas, 7lb 14oz
29/06 (due 25/06) - Ilovemyterrier - Jeppe Sebastian Fagerlund, 7lb 6.5oz
01/07 (due 30/06)- LaTrucha - Daniel Timothy, 8lb 11oz
3/7 (due 29/06) - CantSleepWontSleep - Jeremy Francis, 9lb 4oz

Fell off the thread again.

We're doing a 'whochever way we feel like it' weaning here. He won't lift things to hos mouth, except a spoon funnily enough. He loves to chew on chunks if I hold them for him. His whole face lights up. I don't quite understand it, but it's fun - which it wasn't last time.

Sorry for last overly negative post. Feeling abit less miserable now
Weaning going fairly well here. Fergus loves feeding himself but not sure how much ever goes down so sometimes feels a bit wasteful. He loves the ellas kitchen or plum fruit pouches which he can feed himself with so he still gets some purees . Not sure if he is getting enough liquids now though as his poos been a bit solid. STill quite a huge amount of wind here also which is not good for sleeping.

As far as the sleeping is going have actually gone for full on sleep training and last night Fergus stayed in his own bed all night (well with 2 feeds but still good for him). We out him in bed asleep and dh stayed with him. took 40 minutes of crying but he eventually went to sleep on his own. He woke about 5 times and settled himself with no fuss at all 3 of those times. The other 2 (at 3 o clock and 6 o clock) I fed him and put him down awake again. At 3 he just looked calmly at the ceiling and fell back asleep (which is frankly miraculous). Second time he was not so happy but eventually went to sleep and slept til 9! This might not seem like a great night to some but for Fergus who cane easily be up every hour and never settles himself ever its amazing. Was really scared to give it a go thought we would have a whole night of crying but really only about =an hour the whole night! We never left him alone at all night so didnt feel too bad but still seemed bad enough.

Hello everyone and belated good wishes for 2011.

La Trucha I was so sorry to read about your dad, I can't imagine what losing both parents in quite a short time is like. And goodname sorry to read about your bereavements too.

Things are sort of fine here. My dad's funeral was only last week because of Christmas and New Year, and there is the most alarmingly long list of things that my mum has never done for herself because my dad did them, which now I need to do, IYSWIM. Alice has taken it all in her stride - BLW has been great, after several weeks when nothing at all seemed to happen, so I to am a total convert.

Sleeping - don't ask. Am back on the sleep threads big time.

Well it's been a while since I've been on here. Have been so wrapped up in life with 3 children I've been too exhausted to MN :(

Firstly so soeey to hear about all of the losses that have been experienced. My sincere condolences. I lost my dad when my first baby was 3 months old - and it was an awful time.

Arty is doing well, she's a cheeky little thing. Hard, hard work - so much harder than the boys. Things have got a bit easier since she's been sitting though, I think the main reason why she was so demanding was because she wanted to be upright all the time - and unfortunately she hated her Bumbo.

No teeth yet - no crawling - but she has very strong legs and is always trying to pull herself up on things. If I help her up she can then stand for some time. She's showing very little interest in crawling though, and also can't yet get herself into a sitting position herself. Can't remember when they do this?

Starting BLW about 4 weeks ago. She has a go but I certainly wouldn't say she was getting many calories from it yet. So still many breastfeeds a day - although at night she's pretty good - going down at 7ish and sleeping through til about 6.

I'm lucky that dp and I are both self-employed so we can share alot of the childcare, but I'm going to be putting her into a nursery one afternoon a week from the beginning of Feb.

How is everyone else doing?

I'll upload some recent pics if anyone is interested.

Hey all,

Hi RnB!

Well, it seems like many of our sleeping problems are down to me being in the room. I've been sleeping in another room recently and we were down to one waking from Daniel. The last two nights DD has been ill so I bought her into our bed, which is next to D's cot and he's woken constatnly to feed through the night.

We're considering putting him in with DD even though he is still waking for milk. Is this a crazy idea? I think she won't feel so lonely and DH and I will be able to slkeep in the same room again. But maybe it will just be a three ring circus all night.

What do you think?

Oh, and does anyone know if this would be less safe than having him in our room? DD was with us for 19months, but isn't the thing that improves safety that the baby has breathing and snuffling to listen to, so DD would suffice, no?

Goodname I am glad things are starting to pick up for you. Sleep is getting better here too.

LaT I can't advise on when the danger passes, but george has been in his own room since he was 6 weeks. I am fairly sure the recommendation for room sharing is to 6 months...

Work hasn't been great this week. I got sent home in tears today, I just couldn't pull myself together. I think what I have been blaming on tiredness is depression after all. Off to see the doctor next week if I can get an appointment with the one I like and trust...

Sorry to hear that alwayshopeful, hope you get a decent gp who listens to you. I seem to go from upbeat to miserable quite regularly and with no apparent pattern but fairly sure its mostly just exhaustion combined with the fact that as Fergus is quite clingy I never seem to leave him so have no recognisable life at all dont really mind this too much tho.
Sadly last night was not as good as the first one and Fergus woke so often and cried everytime. If it was up to me I would have brought him in bed with me before midnight but DH in control and much meaner than me so he stayed in his bed with just one feed. Do you think this is too cruel? DH stayed with him all the time so he didnt feel abandoned but he still seemed awful upset. He is crying now about being put in bed and I cant stand it, am downstairs with headphones on listening to music to block it out .
Just wanted to say to those that have lost their dads that I realise that would be much worse than all the people I have lost put together. Cant imagine loosing my Dad but would find it hard to keep it together I know. Have my cousins funeral tommorrow which will be quite horrible I imagine. His parents will be so upset,cant imagine loosing yr son like that, makes me think twice about complaining about fergus at all!
Sorry for random and waffling post

Hi all, I've been off the thread for a while due to poorly little ones and house guests. Good to hear that sleep is getting better for some of you, especially Goodname - that's great news. We've had a slight breakthrough in that we've given up trying to put Alice down in her cot. She's now sleeping in a single bed in her room and she seems much happier with this arrangement. It works well for me too as I can lie down with her to feed her, then just leave her in the bed and go back to join DH. She's still having a couple of feeds a night, but it feels much more manageable.

LaT - sounds like craziness to me to put a waking baby in with a toddler, but that's only going on experience of my two. It may be just fine for you.

AlwaysHopeful - hope it goes well with the doctor and well done for recognising the problem and dealing with it. Hope things start to improve for you soon.

I'm currently putting off looking for a new job, but I would have given anything to have been at work this afternoon, rather than at home with 2 little girls who seemed to be competing to see who could scream the loudest.

AlwaysHopeful - I hope you get some good help. Be nice to yourself.

Greensnail - You might be right but I've spoken to a few people who say that it's hell fro three or four nights, then they learn to sleep through the other's wakings and overall both sleep better after a while. A friend of mine's little girl used to sing lullabys to her baby brother until he went back to sleep. I'm not sure Daniel would be able to ehar it over all his crying . Why were they screaming? Sounds like a hard day.

goodname - we have no life either. none at all apart from babies. I'm sorry to hear about your cousin. You are right about losing Dad's. It's so painful sometimes I want to vomit at the thought of it.

laT I know it's different, but if one of the twins wakes up the other tends to sleep straight through it. I guess this is because they have always shared a room and are used to it. So maybe it till work with your two?

alwayshopeful sorry to hear you are feeling down. Hope you have a good talk with your GP. I was feeling pretty low a few weeks ago, but realised I often wasn't leaving the house for several days at a time. Now I go out every morning rain or shine and it seems to have helped lift the cloud.

greensnail oh dear, poor you. I sometimes fantasise about going back to work earlier than planned. But then I remember this is the last time I will ever have off on mat leave, so should make the most of it.

Our house is under offer again (the 3rd buyer we've had) but the survey has been carried out and all seems to be going smoothly, so we're going house-hunting for a day next week in Oxfordshire, leaving all 3 DCs with my parents for the day (poor them...) I'm not sure what I'm more excited about, looking at proper houses or being child-free for 7 hours!

Oooh MonkeyMargot whereabouts in Oxfordshire are you looking? I'm in the south.

Alice had her hospital appointment on Friday with the Dermatologist and has now been referred to the allergy clinic so have to wait for another appointment. She had a bad reaction to fish on Thursday and has had another reaction to yoghurt today. Feeling a bit stressed and fed up with the whole weaning thing at the mo as running out of things that I know she can safely eat.

Apologies for self indulgent moaning!

xpost with you last night goodname. Hope the night went ok in the end. Plenty of people are stricter with their babies than it sounds like you are being, so no I don't think you're being too mean. I'm absolutely rubbish at not intervening if my babies are crying though, but sometimes I just have to let DH get on with it.

lat - its been a hard week. DD1 has been quite unwell and just wants to be permanently attached to me, which means to do anything with Alice I have to put down DD1 and let her scream. Its just about manageable when Alice is in a good mood, but when she's grumpy too I just feel like I'm running between screaming babies.

Good luck with the househunting MonkeyMargot - if you cramming your brood into a 2 bed maisonette, I have a lovely one for sale in oxfordshire

MrsAR - that sounds like a nightmare with the allergies. Does DD1 have any allergies or is this all new to you? Must make weaning very stressful.

MrsAR - It does sound stressful, but she'll still be getting her calories and most nutrition from milk. Food is kind of a fun accessory for the first year, isn't it? You'd be fine settling on the safe things until the things are a liitle clearer, I'm sure.

greensnail - oh, I know that one. It's horrid.

MrsAR what sort of reactions does Alice have? It must make the whole weaning thing fraught to say the least.
Re. houses, we are looking all over Oxfordshire - currently in Chiswick and finally making the move out of London after 12 years. Whereabouts are you?

greensnail I didn't realise you hadn't sold your former home. are you renting it out in the meantime? Hope your DD1 gets better and stops clinging. It is so wearing when they are like that.

Had a day on my own with all 3 (no DH) today and thankfully all were on good behaviour.

MonkeyMargot Its being sold through DH's work relocation scheme, so we have a guaranteed sale price for it and a free bridging loan. So in a way it doesn't really matter to us when it sells, except for the fact that we have chosen not to invest all of the equity from it into our new property so we have to wait until its sold to get the last bit of money from the sale price.

CSWS I don't know if you're getting chance to read the thread, but have been meaning to say I'm thinking of you. Hope the sleeping situation is improving.

Wow greensnail that sounds like a fab work perk indeed, especially in the current economic climate.

CSWS haven't seen you around for a while. Hope all is well.

Anyone watching the thing on BBC1 (tonight at 9pm) called Zen? It has a very handsome Rufus Sewell in it, which makes it worth watching...

LaT have you tried putting your two in together? We are thinking of doing the same as ds1 seems to need the comfort of someone else with him. I don't totally know how it will work, his room will look ridiculous and have no room for toys but worth it for a full night's sleep!!

DD1 has not had any problems with food allergies so all new to us with Alice. The reactions are usually a red raised rash wherever the food has touched her skin. Then depending on how severe the reaction can also include vomitting and once her eyelid swelled up until it was almost closed

The Dr she saw the other day said not to worry too much about her not being able to eat much until we have the allergies confirmed and identified as she is a chubby little thing so won't be wasting away anytime soon!

MonkeyMargot I'm in Didcot.

Hello all! DS1 and DS2 went into the same room when they were 26 months and 6 months respectively. I was hesitatnt, but it worked out really well. DS2 woke twice a night until he was 18 months old, and his brother never woke up.

Can I ask is everyone back to normal periods? I haven't had anything yet...

Nothing yet here Dinosaur, though I could swear I ovulated the other day.

Minimoo - no, we haven't tried it yet but we will at some point int he next few months.

Any ideas here will be gratefully received.

thanks for noticing my absence greensnail and margot. :) Reasons were twofold. Firstly because my imac was away being fixed this week, so everything was taking a lot longer to type out on my ipad (I can touch type on imac). And secondly, as those of you on my fb may have seen, we have been (and still are) going through hell with ds1's sleep at the moment. Since Christmas he appears to have forgotten how to go to sleep by himself, and screams or calls for us for hours if we leave him (he's fallen asleep on the hard wooden floor in his doorway several times, but still tried to chase me out of the room (to prevent me from putting the gate that we've had to install on) when I've put him back in to bed. If we stay with him til he settles then it tends to take upwards of an hour, often nearer 2, during which time I at some point have to go back to see J, as he always wakes no more than 35 mins after first going to bed. Then when ds1 wakes in the night we have to repeat it all again. He has spent 7 hours in one night standing up refusing to go to bed, on more than 1 occasion. The GP prescribed a temporary sedative for him, but it has made no difference - he still won't sleep! And dh has gone back to work in Greece, so I have to deal with all of this on my own.

ds2 is also still a terrible sleeper. As I just mentioned, he wakes around half an hour after going to bed in the evening, and then wakes again, for a feed this time, 3-3.5 hrs after he was first put to bed. After this feed he then wakes at least every hour, but usually much more than this (it all becomes a blur so I couldn't actually tell you how many times a night he's awake). I am managing to sleep sometimes whilst he is latched on, but it's not the same as a proper sleep in a comfortable position chosen by me! And we've had several nights recently where he's not even settling with a feed. Not sure if it's digestion related (as we've now started solids at last) or tooth related, or just random.

But all in all I am living up to my moniker and am completely knackered! So apols for not replying to everything right now, but I'm off to bed!

Oh, no periods yet, but wouldn't expect them with the amount that I'm feeding. Didn't get them til at least 9 motnhs with the other 2.

oh blimey CSWS. That sounds dreadful. Do you think your DS1's sleep is a late reaction to the arrival of DS2? If you recall our DD starting waking at 3 or 3am screaming a few months after the DTs arrived. It all settled down in the end, but it was dreadful at the time. I really do sympthise, especially as your DH is abroad.
Has J's sleep worsened since starting solids or is it much the same? You must be so tired. Truly hope this all settles down soon.

DIMB I've had a Mirena coil fitted this time, but last time, I had my first period at 9 months whilst still breastfeeding. That however was my last ever period as I immediately got PG with the DTs!